Chapter 2

After a flurry of activity, food and drink, platters and plates, tableware and napkins were marshalled and delivered to the living room. The AI helped by producing a coffee table that made a serviceable buffet.

Janice and Jeremy were brought down and made to eat and drink with everyone else. The talk started off slowly, partly because they all felt out of their element, and partly because they were all famished. Once everyone was served and they were well into their meal, the conversations slowly began with introductions and brief histories.

Nobody really knew anybody else. Well, everyone knew The Princess, but none of them knew Elizabeth. Early on at the pickup, Gail Meadowlark, 43, had been assigned to the 14-year-old Princess as a mother figure, to help stabilise the "family". Gail had been on the staff of the Queen.

Next, Elizabeth had selected John Stewart, 17, from a group representing the Highland Society. Her brother Andrew had made his first concubine selection, Wendy, from that same group.

The Royal couple had then turned to the catering staff and had collected the remainder of their families. Elizabeth's selections included Heather Miles, 22, Jenny Sanders, 39, and Tracy Goodall, 44. They had been co-workers with the catering company, but none of them knew much about the others' personal lives. During the course of the meal, Heather's two-year-old son Martin was delivered to the family, bringing his mother to tears of joy and relief. By the new standard, Gail's children and Tracy's children were adults.

The pickup had taken place at a party on the grounds of Buckingham Palace. The announced occasion for the party was the introduction of Prince Andrew and Princess Elizabeth into public life. The party guests had been primarily children, over ten thousand children and young adults from all walks of life and from throughout the kingdom.

There had also been a large number of catering and entertainment staff, together with a large number of parents escorting invited children. These, too, were eligible to be picked up as volunteers or selected as concubines.

When the nearly one thousand volunteers had selected all of their concubines, there remained a large number of unescorted children and a number of women. In accordance with law, the unescorted children were parcelled out to the volunteers in twos and threes. Siblings Janice, twelve, and Jeremy, ten, had been assigned to Elizabeth.

To manage the volunteers' unexpected children, some of the volunteers were allotted an extra 'mother' over and above the volunteer's allotment. When Andrew and Elizabeth reached the terminus, the marines didn't know whether the Royals were to be assigned still another 'extra mother.' Andrew, knowing a good thing when he saw it, fixed his steely gaze on the marines, who promptly made the additional assignments. Mandy Young was assigned to Elizabeth. Mandy turned out to be a widowed 35-year-old teacher.

Mandy's daughter Amy, 13, was also delivered to the pod during the meal. Amy soon appeared to get on famously with Janice and, to a lesser extent, with Jeremy. The children appeared to be glad to incorporate Jenny's children Stephanie and Michael into their cabal.

When they finished eating, the children made to escape upstairs. Gail, nominally 'mother' to the entire troupe, called them back. The food and drink were whisked away and the group re-seated themselves. Tracy made sure the seating was changed, so that all sat next to someone new.

"Children," Gail began, "this is your new home. We, all of these older folks, are now your family. From now on," she said, looking at each child in turn, "you are all brothers and sisters. Soon enough, you will have a steady stream of new brothers and sisters. You know the rules have changed, but you also know about good behaviour. I'm sure much remains to be sorted out about our daily lives. Soon, we will excuse you while we start making some plans." Elizabeth nodded agreement.

"Look around you. All of the adults are nude. I suspect that we will be nude in our home..."

"Always," Elizabeth interjected.

Gail went on, "You, as children, may make your own decision about whether to wear clothes." At that statement, Amy leaped up and began furiously shucking off her clothing. Janice soon followed. Jeremy, Stephanie and Michael overcame their bewilderment and followed suit. When they finished and sat back down, all five faces were crimson.

Amy was obviously pleased with herself. The level of pride went down, and the level of confusion went up in each child as the age declined. Michael didn't know what to think, he just did as the bigger kids had done.

Smiling, Gail took up the instructions again. "You may change your minds as you wish. You can wear pyjamas one night and be nude the next. You can be dressed inside or outside the pod as you fancy."

"Dependents are required to be dressed in public," the AI interjected.

"What was that?" squeaked Amy.

Janice giggled. "I'll tell you all about it when we get upstairs."

"I stand corrected," said Gail. "Now, some of you have not seen the rest of the pod. I want you, Janice, to take the lead on showing the others about the pod and explaining about the AI. There are seven adults and six children - yes, I know, Amy and Janice, you are almost adults, but you aren't yet. I would like you three girls to sleep in one of the upstairs bedrooms, and you two boys to sleep in another bedroom." Gail held up her hand to stop their protests. "I didn't say that you had to go to bed yet. AI, what time is it now?"

"The current time is 17:50," said the AI.

"Now," said Tracy, "I don't know how much you know about the birds and the bees. You have already had an eyeful. We will doubtless have lessons on human anatomy and biology in the near future. Now is not the time to take that up. We will leave it for now that the rules are different than before, the rules have not been explained to you, the rules are very strict, and the punishment is swift, sure, and severe. Girls, if it is not appropriate for Stephanie, don't do it. Boys, if it is not appropriate for Michael, don't do it."